Hansard

I welcome to the public gallery carers who have travelled from all over Scotland to be here today. Given the caring responsibilities that they have, that represents a considerable effort.

In a sense, we are in the presence of 500,000 Scots who look after sick, disabled, vulnerable or frail relatives or friends. Some have done so for many years; others will have, suddenly and shockingly, found themselves in the situation as a result of accident or diagnosis.

The Scottish Executive's programme for government committed us to producing a strategy for carers in Scotland. The strategy document was issued by way of a parliamentary question yesterday, so that members of the Parliament would receive it before anyone else.

The first ministerial engagement that I undertook was a carers event. I promised then to bring their concerns to the chamber. I have met many carers and have learned from them something of what caring means. It has been a sometimes searing experience. Carers will speak passionately about the difference that services have made, but they will not mince their words about the struggle to provide care for loved ones, sometimes with little support and in isolation.

Before drawing up our proposals, we discussed priorities with carers organisations in Scotland, notably the Carers National Association, the coalition of carers in Scotland, Crossroads Scotland, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Shared Care Scotland. I want to put on record an acknowledgement of my gratitude for their help. Together, we identified four main areas for action.

The first priority of carers is that respite services should be of a better quality, more readily available and more flexible, as those services allow them to take a break with confidence and without guilt. We have therefore told the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities that we expect the resources spent on those services to double.

We are identifying £10 million of grant-aided expenditure for 2000-01 specifically for carers services and respite care. That doubles the £5 million that is already notionally allocated for such

services in the GAE system. We have already announced that the total GAE for social services will increase by £40 million next year, and it is from those resources that the additional £5 million will be found.

Every local authority on Scotland will receive its share of the £10 million, and local carers groups will be advised of the resources that are available to their authority for developing new services and enhancing existing ones.

Local authorities must consult local carers organisations on spending plans for those resources. We will encourage imaginative and innovative services that meet carers' needs. We expect authorities to take into account the needs of carers from ethnic minority and rural communities and those who care for someone with a learning disability.

Carers want a consistent standard of service across Scotland. We have already set up a national care standards committee to agree national standards for residential care, day care and home care services. National standards for residential respite care will be introduced in 2000 and for home-based care in 2001.

Carers are represented on the working groups already set up to discuss standards across the services and will be included in the groups that will discuss the proposals as they emerge.

It is widely believed that new carers legislation is required. I agree. I am determined to get it right and not to rush it. I have therefore decided to set up a carers legislation working group by the end of this year, on which representatives of the Scottish Executive, service users and carers, carers organisations and local authorities will work together to draw up legislative proposals for public consultation next year. Those proposals will consider the rights of carers—and users—to a direct assessment of their needs. In particular, we want and expect the legislation to enable carers under 16 to have, for the first time, a direct assessment of their needs.

All carers want more information. We can have as many services as we wish and services of the highest quality, but if carers do not know that they are there and how to access them, they are of no use. Too often, services are stumbled across almost by accident. It is no coincidence that the excellent carers centre in Perth is called Gateway. The handbook of the services that it helps carers to access includes many such services, but in the Gateway centre, carers will say that it is often an accidental meeting with someone from the centre that allows them to begin to access the services that already exist.

We must increase and open up such gateways to services. All agencies and professionals in the caring professions have a role to play. Working with the Carers National Association training unit that the Scottish Executive funds, we will take the needs of carers into account in future training of general practitioners, primary care teams and social workers. The next planning and priorities guidelines for the national health service will require health boards and trusts to recognise carers' needs.

In spring 2000, the Scottish NHS helpline will be extended to include information on services for carers. When NHS Direct is brought on stream in Scotland, it will be extended to include social care and carers advice, as well as medical advice. Early in the new year, we will launch a leaflet and local media campaign to publicise the carers strategy and services for carers.

Too many carers remain hidden completely—the 500,000 figure that I used is a notional one. We do not know how many carers there are. It is our intention that the census in 2001 should be the first one to include a question on carers, seeking information on the time that people spend on unpaid caring. We will consider extending the Princess Royal Trust for Carers pilot project to identify hidden carers and examine the potential use of GP databases to identify and include information on carers.

The four priorities are respite, standards, legislation and information. Priorities are all very well, but carers are concerned—and have expressed that concern to me—that the impact of the strategy should be monitored. Therefore, from April 2000, local authorities will be required to report in detail on the use of the resources allocated to them for carers and respite services through community care plans and annual updates. Further, in future we will require those plans to be accompanied by a letter from local carers groups, confirming that they have been consulted in the planning and development of services and that they are satisfied that their authority's share of the £10 million has been used appropriately.

In addition, we have tasked the Scottish Executive's community care implementation unit to review practice in involving carers in service planning and provision. The unit will identify and promote good practice, and—importantly—will report to me on any barriers to the development of good-quality services for carers.

Further, carers' needs will in future be included as part of the existing statutory performance indicators and assessments currently required of local authorities by the Accounts Commission. I have asked that the new, national data set that is being devised by the Scottish Executive, COSLA and the Accounts Commission to monitor social care on a national basis should include information

on carers assessments and respite care.

I mentioned young carers in the context of legislation, but they are a particularly disadvantaged group, whose specific needs we must address further. In Dundee, we are providing £210,000 over the next three years to a project aimed at identifying and supporting young carers. I have asked my officials to work up proposals for research on the support that is available to young carers in Scotland and the guidance that is needed for professionals in health education and social care. In the meantime, we will make available to directors of education a young carers pack, which I expect to inform the work that is currently undertaken by guidance teachers.

It would be wrong to conclude without acknowledging the contribution that carers make. We could not deliver community care without them. They care unpaid, unsung and unwaveringly. The package is a significant step towards addressing their needs, but it is only a step.

Some people will try to calculate how much the contribution of carers is worth in cash terms, but that misses the point. Carers care because they want to, and because they love the people for whom they care. We cannot put a price on something that is priceless, or a value on what is invaluable.

Caring is what holds our society together. It is the practical, most powerful, profoundest solidarity between husband and wife, parent and child, friend and neighbour. It touches us all. Like most people, when I think of carers, I think first of my mother caring for her father, my aunt and uncle for my cousin, and my friend for his son.

We all know carers. Today, we place them at the centre of our Parliament and at the heart of Scotland. They will never go away. Whoever stands here can never ignore their needs again. I move the motion on their behalf.

I move,

That the Parliament welcomes the Executive's commitment in its Programme for Government to introduce a Carers' Strategy for Scotland to assist unpaid carers, and approves the Executive's proposals for that strategy.